| Glossary of Terms |
Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL). Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative was started by the United States White House in 1997, and aims to advance the use of online training. They are responsible for the devlopment and support of the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM).
Aviation Industries CBT Committee (AICC). Aviation Industry CBT Committee is a membership-based international forum that develops recommendations on interoperable learning technologies for the aviation industry.
British Computer Society (BCS). The BCS is the UK's leading professional body for those working in IT. The BCS has over 58,000 members in more than 100 countries and is the qualifying body for Chartered IT Professionals (CITP).
British Standards Institute (BSI).
Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). BPEL (or BPEL4WS) defines a notation for specifying business process behavior based on Web Services. Processes in BPEL export and import functionality by using Web Service interfaces exclusively. Business processes can be described in two ways. Executable business processes model actual behavior of a participant in a business interaction. Business protocols, in contrast, use process descriptions that specify the mutually visible message exchange behavior of each of the parties involved in the protocol, without revealing their internal behavior. The process descriptions for business protocols are called abstract processes. BPEL is intended to model the behavior of both executable and abstract processes. BPEL provides a language for the formal specification of business processes and business interaction protocols. By doing so, it extends the Web Services interaction model and enables it to support business transactions. BPEL defines an interoperable integration model that should facilitate the expansion of automated process integration in both the intra-corporate and the business-to-business spaces.
Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS). DOCSIS is ...
Digital Audo-Visual Interoperability Council (DAVIC). DAVIC is ...
DAVIC/DVB Interoperability Consortium (DIC).
Digital Video Broadcast (DVB). DVB is ...
Digital Video Broadcast Return Channel for Cable (DVB/RCCL). DVB/RCC is ...
EuroBOX. This is ...
EuroDOCSIS. This is ...
EuroModem. This is ...
General Web Services (GWS). The IMS/GLC General Web Service specification provides a basic structure for the definition of Web Services. It consists of a set of non-proprietary Web services specifications, along with clarifications and amendments to those specifications that promote interoperability. The GWS Base Profile addresses the most common problems experienced when implementing web service specifications. The GWS Base Profile defines the selection of mechanisms within referenced specifications that are well understood, widely implemented and useful. The GWS Base Profile promotes interoperability for web service based specification implementations on different software and vendor platforms. The Base Profile focuses on a core set of web service specifications and the most common problems experienced implementing the identified web service specifications. The GWS Base Profile is based upon the WS-I Basic Profile v1.1 and the WS-I Simple SOAP Binding Profile v1.0.
IMS/GLC Abstract Framework (IAF). This is an abstract representation of the systems, applications, components and infrastructure used to provide e-learning. The abstract framework can be considered a meta-architecture and as such it is not possible to create an implementation of abstract learning framework. The Abstract Framework was developed by IMS/GLC and is avalble as a white paper.
Institute of Electronic & Electrical Engineers (IEEE). The USA professional body for Electronic and Electrical engineering. This also covers the ICT industry.
Question & Test Interoperability (QTI). This is the IMS/GLC e-learning interoperability specification for question and test systems, applications, tools and content. The specifictaion defines an XML representation for questions (termed Items in the specification) and tests (termed Assessments in the specification).
Service Oriented Architecture (SoA). A Service-oriented Architecture defines how two or more entities interact in such a way as to enable one entity to perform a unit of work on behalf of another entity. The unit of work is referred to as a service, and the service interactions are defined using a well-defined description language. Each interaction is self-contained and loosely coupled, so that each interaction remains independent of any other interaction. While SOAP-enabled Web Services are the most common implementation of SoA, Web Services are not necessarily required to define a SoA. The protocol independence of SoA means that different consumers can use services by communicating with the service in different ways. Service Orientation is a method of architecting systems of autonomous services. Services are built to last, with good availability and reliability, and systems are built to change, with new service topologies evolving over time.
Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM). SCORM defines a Web-based learning ‘Content Aggregation Model’ and ‘Run-Time Environment’ for learning objects. At its simplest, it is a model that references a set of interrelated technical specifications and guidelines designed to meet the DoD’s high-level requirements for Web-based learning content. From an IMS/GLC perspective, SCORM is a Domain Profile. SCORM2004 uses the IMS/GLC Content Packaging and Simple Sequencing specifications.
SOAP. Originally defined as the Simple Object Access Protocol, SOAP provides the definition of an XML document which can be used for exchanging structured and typed information between peers in a decentralized, distributed environment. It is fundamentally a stateless, one-way message exchange paradigm, but applications can create more complex interaction patterns (e.g. request/response, request/multiple responses, etc.) by combining such one-way exchanges with features provided by an underlying transport protocol and/or application-specific information. SOAP is silent on the semantics of any application-specific data it conveys, as it is on issues such as the routing of SOAP messages, reliable data transfer, firewall traversal, etc. However, SOAP provides the framework by which application-specific information may be conveyed in an extensible manner. Also, SOAP provides a full description of the expected actions taken by a SOAP processor on receiving a SOAP message.
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).
Unified Modelling Language (UML).
Web Services Decripton Language (WSDL).
Web Service Interoperabilty Organization (WS-I).
WS-I Basic Profile. The Web Services Interoperability Consortium (WS-I) has released the final specification for the WS-I Basic Profile v1.1 and v2.0. This profile provides interoperability guidance for core Web services specifications such as SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI. In addition, they have also released some testing tools that help developers determine whether their Web Services comply with the Basic Profile guidelines.
XML Schema Definition (XSD). XSD is the primary XML binding control document format of IMS (at present these bindings are working to the May 2001 version of XML Schema). The XSD defines elements, their content models, and attributes. It also defines the standard IMS vocabularies. The XSD defines the element types and attribute groups separately from the elements.